We are proud to announce a new HVAC inspection service designed for real estate sales with our partners at Quality Air (Air Conditioning and Heating). I’m getting great feedback from this service- it really is an excellent value. Read on for more information:

Who should get an HVAC inspection? This service is highly recommended for all equipment that is not still under warranty (generally older than 1 year) and for all houses within 30 miles of Asheville (within Quality Air’s service area). Nearly every homebuyer would benefit from this service. Most HVAC companies generally do not perform real estate inspections, as they only want to work with the current homeowner. As far as I know, we are the only home inspection company that is currently offering this level of HVAC evaluation for homebuyers.Quality Air will come and perform a full HVAC real estate inspection for our clients as long as it is scheduled with us a couple of days before the home inspection.

How much does it cost? This service costs $120 per heat pump/ AC unit/ Furnace. Some larger homes have 2 or more systems. This is an excellent value considering new heat pump/furnace equipment could cost anywhere between $7,000 and $19,000. What’s included in the inspection? HVAC evaluation by home inspectors is limited. We do not have the special equipment or knowledge that HVAC contractors do. Quality Air is able to check important HVAC functions such as refrigerant pressures, heat exchangers, electric heat strip amperages, gas pressures, and runs a full combustion analysis to check efficiency and carbon monoxide output of fossil fuel systems.

This is an incredibly thorough evaluation- see the sample report below. An oil furnace, for example, can take up to 4 hours to fully evaluate!

​What are the advantages of getting an HVAC inspection?Defects found in the report can be used as negotiating items and the buyer will learn more about the system’s maintenance and repair needs/costs and can budget accordingly. This is also a great opportunity for buyers to establish a relationship with a local reputable HVAC company—Quality Air.

How do I order an HVAC Inspection? If the equipment is older than 1 year and the home within 30 miles of Asheville, you can select the HVAC inspection on our online submission form here, or request it by phone or email 2 or more days in advance of the home inspection.ABOUT QUALITY AIR: Quality Air is a locally owned company based out of Asheville and has been in business for over twenty-five years. They offer financing plans through Wells Fargo. Quality air has an excellent membership maintenance program as well—see the attached document for details.

Yesterday in the Shiloh neighborhood of Asheville I inspected another unique house. The owner, as you can see from the pics, had a thing for trains. Imagine how all this looked in it's full glory? Dioramas were built at the front and back yards and on custom soffits in all of the living areas inside the house.

When I was a kid my Great Uncle Chuck built a similar train world up in his attic. He'd get in full uniform and would drive that train with as much seriousness as any real conductor-- more smoke billowing out of his tobacco pipe than his model train engine. As a kid this was pure magic.I wonder how many children's lives this guy affected with his creations? Those children are probably adults now like me. And how many of them are going to carry on this tradition? Speaking for myself it's tempting.How calming it must be to check into a miniature world of order where the train only goes forwards or backwards and the Ticket Inspector is always smiling at the station. We are in political turmoil right now but imagine what was going on during their time? Vietnam, Cold War, Gas shortage, Nuclear Arms race... When news from the world got crazy they probably just turned on the ballgame, fired up the wood stove and started painting a new tree for the meadow. Train dioramas are like the Western version of the Japanese Bonsai tradition- it's Zen, and I completely respect it.Realistically i will probably never have the patience and discipline for this kind of work but it was nice to inhabit this space yesterday even if just briefly.